Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec16: A delegation of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) Jammu & Kashmir and Hotel & Restaurant Association, Katra (HRAK) comprising of Rakesh Wazir Chairman PHDCCI and president HRAK, Vikrant Kuthiala former Chairman PHDCCI, Mushtaq Chaya patron PHDCCI Kashmir Region, Rahul Sahai senior member PHDCCI and others met Union Minister for Railways and Industries & Commerce Piyush Goyal and apprised him of various issues pertaining to Industries, Commerce, Tourism and Railways.
Rakesh Wazir while speaking on the occasion said that Hotel Industry provide maximum job opportunities and as such its potential should be explored to its maximum. He said maximum focus and attention should be given to this sector and changes in the Industrial Development Scheme 2017 including increase in completion time of the hotels after registration which is restricted to 18 months as of now, benefits of re- imbursement of GST to hotels as well on the pattern of manufacturing industry, and likewise benefits of exemptions of Toll Tax, Income tax etc. be given to service sector by removing the doubts with regard to language of the Industrial Development Scheme 2017. He also raised the issue of Industrial sector for providing them maximum support so that they may be able to survive.
Vikrant Kuthiala emphasized for starting of higher speed chair car trains from Amritsar & Chandigarh to Katra Vaishno Devi and further elaborated for inclusion of more sectors including education in the service sector. He further said that it is very important to save the present industry in the State because it is on the verge of collapse and since our state is on the far end corner of the country thus logistics is the main problem and thus till the time some thing special is given it is very difficult to attract investment.
Mushtaq Chaya said that there is negligible Tourism in J&K and particularly in the Kashmir especially after revocation of Article 370 and imposition of restrictions and asked for coming up with a policy so that banks may give some time to the borrowers including waiver of the interest for that period and do not make their units NPAs.
Piyush Goyal listened the delegation patiently and accepted some points on spot and gave their directions and assured that sympathetic consideration will be given to rest of the issues.